SMO

In an effort to have further restrictions placed on Santa Monica Airport … or close it all together … a group describing itself as a “growing network including thousands of people from our local community” has put up a website in an effort to get involved in “shaping the future use of the Santa Monica Airport Land to better the lives of our entire community and future generations.”

(CalPilots Editor’s Note: Using the term “Airport Commission” is laughable when it comes to Santa Monica. In the spirit of the true airport commission, it is supposed to look after the airport and include actual aviation expertise, not real estate and other business interests such as the City of Santa Moncia populated it with) The Santa Monica Airport Commission showed its support for the city’s strategy to eventually shut down aviation operations at the airport, recommending this week that the city council move ahead with taking over chunks of the 227-acre field and imposing new rules for hangar owners and other users.

This latest move in the long battle over KSMO’s future prompted airport advocates to reiterate their position that federal obligations require that the land must continue to operate as an airport. “These proposals have been offered by opponents of Santa Monica Airport before, and they’ve been shown to be lacking a basis in federal law and grant obligations,” NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen said in a statement Wednesday. “We have long fought these and other attempts to restrict access at SMO, and we will continue to do so.”

The Santa Monica Airport has long been embattled. City officials and nearby residents have made no secret of the fact that they are weary of it, especially as larger and larger private jets take off from and land on its single runway. Neighbors, some living no more than 300 feet from the runway, worry over safety, noise, and air pollution. The city has been in and out of court for decades, dueling with the Federal Aviation Administration — which oversees the city’s compliance with federal rules on aircraft and airport operations — for the right to close the airport or curtail its activities.

Now, the City Council has bypassed the courts and gone to its voters. Measure LC, which asserts that it is up to the City Council to decide how to manage the airport and whether to close all or part of it, passed decisively on Tuesday.lRelated Your 405 exit is closed, but will Metro or Caltrans tell you?